Life's Not Over Just a New Direction
by DAgron4Ever
Summary: AU Glee. Set during Laryngitis. Rachel Berry is at her wits end with the Glee Club, they were ruining her plans for Broadway glory, until she meets a new girl, Quinn, who's life has been turned upside down in a cheerleading accident that left her a quadriplegic. Rachel is astonished at Quinn's attitude, vowing to befriend her; in the process learns what is important in life.
1. Chapter 1

Life's Not Over; It's Just a New Direction

AU Glee. Set during Laryngitis. Rachel Berry is at her wits end with the Glee Club, they were ruining her plans for Broadway glory, until she meets a new girl, Quinn, who's life has been turned upside down in a cheerleading accident that left her a quadriplegic. Rachel is astonished at Quinn's attitude, vowing to befriend her; in the process Rachel learns what really matters in life. Faberry friendship for now. Possibly more later.

_**This story is very important to me. It's taken me a lot of courage to write it and I appreciate any reviews I receive. Please let me know what you think.**_

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**Prologue**

It was only a week since somebody made the Glist, and the Glee members were still in a mood about it, especially Finn and Jesse. Rachel knew who it was even though Mr. Schue steadfastly refused to tell anyone. She was positive it was Sarah and her baby hormones. Things had been awkward with all the baby-gate drama. The Club needed to pull it together or they could kiss regionals goodbye. To top it all off, she woke up that morning with a sore and scratchy throat. Rachel Berry did not have sore and scratchy throat ever.

"Rachel?" Mr. Schue drew her attention back to the present.

Out came several bottles of vitamins.

Will frowned, "Um, w-what are these?"

"My vitamin supplements. I'm taking them three times a day."

Will sighed, these were one a day tablets not to be taken as much as the high-strung leader of his Glee club was taking.

"I'm exhausted. I even felt a tickle in the back of my throat and I never get sick." Her voice cracked a little. This was serious, catastrophic even.

"I don't understand why you're so tired all of a sudden."

"Because every song I sing in here is a solo." In elementary school, okay even middle school, Rachel Berry was known as the class snitch. That hadn't changed. Wouldn't change, if it meant the rest of her gleeks pulling their own weight.

"What? You bugged the choir room?" Will asked. He was a little perturbed by Rachel's actions and suspicions.

Rachel shrugged, drastic times called for drastic measure. "Here," she produced a paper with a flourish. "This is the list of members who are not pulling their weight."

"This is half the club." Gone were any thoughts of reprimanding Rachel. Will was astonished and disappointed in his group that he poured so much time and effort into.

-GLEE-

Sam Fabray-Evans strolled through the parking lot; he didn't really want to be there. There was too much going on in his personal life at the moment to focus on school. That was his sister's thing. Well, before it was, now… Sam sighed. He had to focus there was too much on his parent's plates for him to screw up. He'd only been here at McKinley, his new school, for a few days and already joined the football team. There was something about bashing some meatheads face in on the field that steamed his anger. He couldn't let his frustrations show at home. His little brother and sister were already upset about everything going on as is.

"Dude." Puck jumped out of the dumpster, spotting the new kid instantly.

Sam stopped, "Did you just?" He pointed at the dumpster dumbfounded. This school was just weird. The cheerleaders walked around like they owned the place throwing iced beverages at anyone in their way. There were jocks everywhere beating up on anyone who wasn't a jock or a Cheerio. He didn't want his sister, when she was ready, to come to this school. There was too much bullying and she would be targeted, he was sure of that. But that was neither here nor their. They wouldn't have to worry about that for a while now.

"I've lost my mojo." Puck rubbed his shaved head. Stupid freckle. He needed to regain cool points. The new kid was dorky, and told jokes no one understood, but man did he know how to play some football. He also, Puck found out in the locker room, could sing.

"Where'd the dead squirrel that lives on your head go?" He asked.

"Mom, found a mole and they maimed me." He was whining again.

"Okay." Sam brushed him off and started walking away. The dude was whining about his hair. There was so much more to whine over than hair follicles.

"Whoa, wait up." Puck jogged up to him. "Look, I heard you singing in the locker room."

Sam stopped. That was his relaxation method. No one was supposed to hear that.

"It was good, and, listen, I'm in this group. It's a Glee Club. We sing, like, show tunes and shit. I could gain so many cool points if you join. You have to join."

"Show tunes?" He wasn't expecting that from the bad boy jock.

"Yeah, Broadway."

"I know what show tunes are, Puck."

"It's not just that, Mr. Schue is into the old school stuff, Journey. We do cool stuff."

"I don't really have time. I have football and…" Sam breathed in deeply, vowing not to lose it. "Other things going on."

"What? You're new here and shit. What other things could possible be going on yet? Didn't you just arrive last week or something."?

"I just have things, drop it."

"We don't even meet afterschool much. It won't get in the way. Just try us out." Puck didn't know why he was pushing this. He'd been on everyone's shit list since he knocked up Sarah and maybe he thought this would help smooth things over.

They were standing outside the choir room now. Rachel looked smug, like usual, and Mr. Schue looked angry. Rachel wasn't anything new, but Mr. Schue was. He had to get Sam in the classroom. So he simply pulled him in by his arm. Puck knew how to get things done.

"I bring you fresh meat. New talent and all that."

"Um, hi." Sam stared at him. This was not what he wanted to be doing with his free period. He wanted to sneak off to the hospital, but his mother would be there.

"Okay. Everyone take a seat. You too, Sam." Will motioned towards an empty seat next to Rachel.

"Whoa, wait a minute." Santana spoke up. "The dork has to try out like everyone else."

"No, he doesn't." Will looked over his group. The afternoon had not cooled his frustrations over the situation.

"That's not fair!"

"Sam doesn't have to audition because I am really disappointed in you guys."

"What we do now?" Santana moaned.

"It's come to my attention that more than half of you have been mouthing words during our practices."

"You can't prove that." Santana piped up again.

"I am _very_ disappointed in you guys." Will just raised his eyebrows, silently challenging anyone to disagree.

Finn leaned over Sam. "You narked on us!"

Sam didn't like the look on the quarterback's face and leaned forward a little, forcing the tall boy back.

Rachel looked around him. "Don't get mad at me for exposing your laziness." She turned towards the back row. "I'm tired of carrying all of your weight. Regionals are in a month guys."

"I'm just trying to understand what's going on here. Finn, why did you stop singing?"

"Because you gave all the male leads to Jesse. It shook my confidence you know." Finn glanced at Rachel and then the floor. Sam frowned.

"What's the point? Everybody knows my job here is to look hot." The Latina spoke up.

"My baby hormones are making me moody." Sam turned to the pregnant girl, Sasha or Sarah or something like that, but before he could reply that she shouldn't have gotten pregnant in high school, a comment his mother would have agreed with but frowned upon him saying out loud, the other blonde, the tall one in the room spoke up.

"There are sooo many lyrics."

Now, that Sam could agree with. That was legitimate concern.

Rachel crossed her arms. She looked pissed. What had he walked into? Sam wondered. There were a lot more important things in his life than dealing with this.

"Uh," He stood up. "Maybe, this Glee thing isn't for me. Isn't the point of it to sing together… as a team?" He started towards the door; he was going to take his chances visiting the hospital and his sister.

"No, wait. Sam." Mr. Schue stopped him. "Sam is exactly right. "A team is only as good as it's weakest link. From now on we are a team. If I catch any of you," He pointed at each of them individually, "lip sinking again. You're out of here."

Sam went back to his spot next to the enthusiastic one, Rachel. She beamed at him and he tried not to grimace at her.

A collective moan went through the group. "A Glee club is about a myriad of voices coming together as one, alright. This ends now. Which is why your assignment for the week is for each of you to come up with a song that best represents how you see yourself. Where you are in your life, right now." Will gave Sam a reassuring look. He knew about the family and what brought them to Lima, Ohio. The blonde boy looked down, picking at his jeans, his jaw set tightly. "Your voice. Then, you're going to stand up here and sing your hearts out, all of you."

"Mr. Schue?" Rachel raised her hand, waving it up and down. "I'm prepared to go right now."

Sam frowned, he had no clue what he was going to sing, but the only way he could get out of singing was to quit the club. It would go against everything the curly haired teacher had just said.

"I have chosen Miley Cyrus', _The Climb_, because overcoming obstacles and beating the odds…"

Sam nodded, smiled at the short girl, that was a good song. A little girly and cliché, but his life felt a little cliché right now. It was a song for his sister, all right.

"…in my case," Rachel continued without missing a beat, "the obstacle is _you_ my lackluster teammates who refuse to carry their own weight."

Sam exhaled loudly; a few people glanced at him concerned, including the teacher. Mr. Schue held his gaze for a moment. Rachel said it so smugly too. Did this girl know anything about overcoming obstacles? Before he could leave the room, Rachel started singing.

Sam grimaced. This was not good. This Rachel girl was supposed to be the leader of this group. She hit a particularly fowl note in a series of off notes. Everyone was looking around at each other, confused.

"Rachel," Will approached her, "I think you've lost your voice."

-GLEE-

"Hey Rachel, I know you don't really know me, but, um, I think I know something that might help with your throat. There's someone I want you to meet." They were in the parking lot a few days later. Rachel was freaking out still and Sam didn't know why, but he felt the urgent need to stop her. The doctor wanted to remove her tonsils. It wasn't the end world, despite what she thought.

"Really? Because, I don't want some doctor butchering my throat when I could just rest for a week."

"Well, tonsil surgery isn't that bad, Rachel. There are a lot worse things then needing your tonsils out, but, yeah, um, do you have a car?"

"It's not another doctor is it?" She was scarfing down cereal, in the parking lot.

"No. It's, um, my sister. Just meet her, okay?"

"I don't drive."

"Well, my truck is right here. I'll drive you."

A few minutes later he pulled his truck into the parking lot outside the hospital. Rachel looked at him, curious, "Your sister is in the hospital?"

He shrugged, "Yeah, um, it would be nice for her to meet someone here and she's great, so, please will you meet her?"

Rachel frowned, that sounded like a loaded question, but she didn't have too many friends and she used to volunteer at the hospital until the patients started complaining about her being annoying. Sam seemed pretty nice, so maybe this would be all right. She really wasn't sure what it had to do with her tonsils though.

"Yes, I will meet your sister."

"Alright." He jumped out and headed towards the fourth floor, the rehab floor.

They rode in silence that ended soon after they exited the elevator. Two spitball toddlers ran as fast as they could towards their brother, their three-year-old legs turning up the ground in the hallway. Sam knelt down to their level, scooping them in a big brotherly hug eliciting giggles from them. It was a nice sound. They didn't know what was going on and missed their big sister. To hear them like that lightened his heart.

"Where's dad?" They pointed towards the nurse's desk, though Sam could see him standing in front of the desk already. The toddlers had a tendency to run off and get lost.

"He's on the phone." Little Stacey spoke around the fist she shoved into her mouth. She was watching Rachel while leaning into him.

"You're pretty." Stevie said, shyly. The twins were too cute for their own comfort.

"Thank you."

Sam grabbed a hand each and motioned with his head towards his father. Rachel followed behind feeling a lot confused. She wasn't sure why she was there or why she was supposed to meet a toddler. Maybe his father was a doctor, but as she looked, he was dressed in jeans and a sweater. Doctors didn't normally dress so casually, did they?

"Hey, dad." Dwight turned from the counter after placing the phone down. "Hi, son. Caught the runaway rug rats, I see?"

"Yeah, um, how's it today?"

"Spent the whole day on the phone with insurance companies." He shook his head. It wasn't a discussion for his kids to be concerned with. "Your sister should be done with therapy soon."

He seemed to notice her then and Rachel plastered a smile on. She felt really confused though.

"Are you here to visit with Quinn?" He asked politely, but looked at his son a second later. They seemed to share a look with each other that spoke volumes. Volumes she couldn't hear.

"Yes, I'm Rachel Berry and it's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Fabray-Evans." She stuck her hand out like her daddies taught her to do. It was the polite thing to do.

He laughed, a pleasant sounding laugh, "Its just Evans, Rachel, and you may call me Dwight. My wife, Mary, is with my daughter."

He turned to Sam. "Don't wear your sister out, please. I need to get these two to your grandmother's and get to work. You're going to pick them up after dinner, right?" He reminded his son.

"Of course." Sam blushed as his father wrapped him up in a hug. Then he picked the squealing toddlers up and strode towards the elevator and out of sight.

"Her room is this way." Once again he led Rachel down the hallway.

Sam was trying to decide if he should prepare her, he was mainly thinking of his sister, more than Rachel. Springing someone on her like this could possibly backfire. He bit his lip in thought.

Rachel looked around the room slowly. In the corner was a folded up cot, with a blanket draped over the top; next to it a small couch. There was a hospital bed and beside it stood a machine with a few tubes coming out of it. On the railing was a clamp holding a thick long black tube was bent up towards the head of the bed. Rachel looked closer and saw a clear plastic tube coming from the end.

She was curious by nature and her interest was definitely peaked. Rachel spotted a photo on the rolling table and picked it up. There in the photo stood Sam, in his football uniform, and the two little ones she met earlier, his father, but also there was a tall women and a teenage girl. The girl was gorgeous with hazel eyes and blonde hair, fairly tall, just stunning in a cheerleader uniform.

Sam gently plucked the photo from Rachel's hand. "You've met my dad, Dwight and Stacey and Stevie." He pointed at each figure. "This is my mom, Mary, and my sister Quinn."

He sucked in a deep breath, feeling the all to familiar emotions at seeing the photo, taken just weeks before everything changed for his family.

"She's my twin."

**TBC**

Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

Life's Not Over; It's Just a New Direction

AU Glee. Set during Laryngitis. Rachel Berry is at her wits end with the Glee Club, they were ruining her plans for Broadway glory, until she meets a new girl, Quinn, who's life has been turned upside down in a cheerleading accident that left her a quadriplegic. Rachel is astonished at Quinn's attitude, vowing to befriend her; in the process Rachel learns what really matters in life. Faberry friendship for now. Possibly more later.

**I am amazed at all the reviews. Wow. Thank you all.**

**This story deals with paralysis, specifically Quadriplegia, and means a great deal to me. **

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**Chapter 2**

Rachel just stared at him for a moment. "I think I heard you wrong. You have a brother and a sister that are twins and you have another sister that is your twin?"

"Yep" he popped the p and smiled one of his cheesiest smiles that always made his sister laugh and Stacey and Stevie giggle.

"That's like one and a... one and a, hmm, I'm not sure. I must research."

Sam laughed, "what can I say, we're special. You really don't need to research that."

"Oh, but I don't mind. I-I like to research. I wonder what the chances are that your parents would have another set of twins?" Sometimes her mouth ran away with her. Scratch that, a lot of times her mouth ran away with her.

Sam scrunched his face and fought down the gag, "Ew. I don't even want to think about that. Would you want to think about your parents making babies?" He was smiling and wasn't expecting her to break out in laughter.

"That would be impossible."

"Anyone can have twins, Rachel." The conversation was weird.

"No, really, it's impossible. I have two dads." It was Rachel's turn to bite her lip and wait for his response. She wasn't ashamed of them, everyone knew that, but it didn't mean that she didn't get concerned when she told people.

Reactions usually went one of three ways; utter disgust and repulsion, complete curiosity and acceptance or simple indifference.

Sam's brow furrowed, and then he shrugged and smiled at her, "cool."

"Really? Ohio isn't know for its acceptance of gay relationships."

"Rachel, look around you. My family consists of twins and we are standing in a hospital room because we had to move because, um, yeah and my sister, she..." He trailed off losing himself in thought. "I'm not going to judge you."

Rachel didn't know what to do. Her gut instinct was to hug him, but she didn't really know him. Sam was a nice guy, but she wasn't sure what he would think. Her thoughts were interrupted by a mechanical sound, like a motor of scooter, and a low voices. Rachel couldn't make out the conversation though.

Sam touched her arm, he looked a little stressed, his mouth pulled into a thin line, his eyes were full of worry that wasn't there just moments before.

"You should probably sit over here," He pointed towards the couch. "Out of the way. This could, um, it'll probably take awhile."

Rachel wasn't sure what exactly would take awhile, she surmised that his sister, Quinn, was about to enter the room, she wanted to ask but her brain kicked in and she moved over towards the couch instead, occupying her hands with folding a discarded blanket.

Sam didn't follow her, he stood, hovered really, near the foot of the bed.

"Go slowly. If you need to, back up and realign."

Quinn aimed for the doorway to her hospital room. It was five weeks since her life drastically changed, basketball season had just begun and during the half-time show performing a routine her squad had done hundreds of times before. She couldn't remember what happened. That bothered her, the absence of memory of the events that changed her life, but her life changed nonetheless.

She knew her brother would be waiting for her, the little ones had visited right before the occupational therapist came for her. She scared them, they didn't understand and there was no way she could explain it to them. They were too young to grasp it. Stacey wanted to cuddle with her and Quinn wanted to cuddle with Stacey. She yearned to feel her sister's tiny body pressed against her own. At least Stevie thought the monstrous wheelchair they'd given her was cool. Stacey was scared of it.

She puffed hard on the clear plastic straw that went up to her mouth and was attached via a long gooseneck. It gave her freedom, but it was only the second day with it and she was still becoming accustomed to it.

The therapist had the chair set to a very slow speed, but she still bumped into the doorframe hard enough to jostle, she felt like if a flea farted on her it would topple her over. Her neck hurt and her head hurt, the slight double-vision she still occasionally suffered from wasn't helping any. Quinn wanted nothing more than to lay down and rest.

Rachel looked up at the thump and swallowed. She didn't know what she was expecting and she tried not to stare. The girl from the photo, Quinn, sat in a very complex looking motorized wheelchair. It looked nothing like Artie's. This was reclined with a motor, and a headrest. Quinn wore a hardened thick neck brace that had a tube going into a cutout hole at the base of the neck. Then there was the clear tube at the blonde's mouth, and seeing no controls near the girl's hands that were on formed armrests, Rachel surmised that the tube was the way she was moving the chair. Rachel heard the rhythmic whirring sound again, and though there was a blanket covering the girl's torso, and legs, she realized it was only through mechanical intervention that Quinn was breathing. Quinn's eyes strained to the left and downward to see where the chair had bumped the door and Rachel's stomach dropped into her toes. A sick feeling washed over her.

Quinn couldn't move. A hundred questions raced through her mind at breakneck speed, but two took precedence over the rest. What happened to Quinn? And, why did she ever complain about needing her tonsils out. It seemed so petty in light of seeing Sam's sister.

Quinn listened to the therapist remind her that a hard sip would back the chair up and a soft sip would turn the chair to the right. It took a couple goes at it, and eventually she had the right angle and made it through the doorway.

"Soon, we'll have you weaving in and out of safety cones like Speedy Gonzales."

"I feel like... a turtle."

"You're so competitive." Sam spoke, coming up to his sister and moving in to her line of vision so she didn't have to strain her eyes to see him. Her field of vision was very limited with neck brace on while the broken vertebrae in her neck healed enough for her to lose the brace, there were plates on the back and front holding the broken bits in alignment. Sam had taken to calling her Frankenstein-neck just to get a rise out of her much to their parents chagrin.

"Like you're not." Quinn smiled, her voice coming out soft, as the ventilator expelled the air from her lungs.

He gently kissed his twins forehead and she smiled.

"I wasn't the one who challenged David McDaniels to a bike race when we were five and then let just enough air out of his tires to hedge the odds in your favor." Sam shot back. "I still don't know how you knew how to do that at five."

"Like I'm tellin'... you that. I'm the..." She was still getting used to the speaking valve that allowed her to speak. Without it, she had no voice, the ventilator bypassed her throat and mouth, instead forcing the air into her lungs instead. Sometimes she cut off words and other times she'd start out with a strong voice and end up almost whispering. It would get better as she learned to time her words with the cycle of the ventilator, but she was hoping that it would be moot point soon. She couldn't breathe on her own at first, now she was breathing some on her own, but it was hard work, her neck muscles doing what her paralyzed chest muscles and diaphragm couldn't do. It was getting better, each time she lasted just a little bit longer.

"I'm the brains... you're the brawn." She finished with a smile to take the sting out of her words. Their running joke had become a reality.

Sam turned to Rachel, motioning her forward. Quinn couldn't see her.

"Quinn, this is Rachel. She's in Glee Club with me." Sam turned to Rachel. His mother was looking on with barely veiled concern. Very few of their friends had visited when Quinn was in the hospital near their hometown. Now that his sister was transferred two hours away, they would be very surprised to have visitors. "Rachel, this is my mom, Mary and my sister."

Rachel shook Mary's hand, but hesitated when she turned to Quinn. She hadn't seen any movements from the blonde. Rachel reached out and lightly touched Quinn's hand, not wanting to hurt her. Quinn followed the motion with her eyes and then smiled. Her friends, the few that found the guts to visit, had been too chicken to touch her, yet this stranger, this person she had just met wasn't afraid too. Though she couldn't feel the touch, it meant the world to her. She couldn't explain why, but it just did.

The therapist chose that moment to interrupt and Rachel withdrew her hands, tucking them into the pockets of her skirt with a blush.

"Quinn, it's time to get back in bed." The therapist nodded towards Rachel and Sam. "If you don't mind waiting in the hall."

"Of course." Rachel followed Sam out into the empty hall save for a few nurses bustling around. One returned a moment later rolling a cart with a long arm and a big sling.

"Look, I, um... I should have said something about Quinn." Sam scuffed his shoe on the ground. "It was wrong of me to just toss you in here."

"It's alright. I mean, a warning would have been nice."

Sam ran his hands through his hair.

"But, she didn't kick me out at first glance." Rachel said, the realized what she said. "Figuratively of course.

"Yeah, um, so her friends. They're kinda a bunch of dicks. If you want to leave then okay, but... Just..."

There was something about Quinn. Rachel could just sense that maybe they could be friends. "I'll stay."

"Really?"

"Why not?" She didn't have many friends and she always tried to befriend the new kids at the school. Why should this be any different?

**TBC**

Please review.


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you for all the reviews. Please keep them coming.

Disclaimer: Glee belongs to fox and not me.

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**Chapter 3**

They waited what felt like forever in the hallway, neither one speaking much, which was freaking Rachel out. She almost always able to fill silence.

She opened her mouth to break the silence, it had become too much, but the hospital room door opened and the nurse from before came out rolling the lift. Sam shot to his feet and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

The nurse spoke softly, "You two can go in now."

Rachel followed Sam back into the room. The wheelchair was now in the corner of the room, empty, and plugged into the outlet charging.

Quinn lay on the bed. She disliked the lift, having to be manhandled when she felt like she was just a floating head. In truth, it was scary, much like almost everything. Now she was on the bed, with the head elevated slightly.

Quinn looked at the brunette. The girl looked nervous, like she was going to throw up, and she didn't want to be there.

"He didn't tell you... about me, did he?"

"Um," Rachel glanced between Quinn, Sam and their mom. She held a brace and picked up Quinn's hand, the girl's fingers were curled. As Mary lifted her daughter's hand, Quinn's wrist fell limply down, completely lacking in any muscle control.

Rachel schooled her face, or she tried too, calling upon her inner Barbra for strength. She didn't succeed as Quinn's brow furrowed for a moment and looked downs with her eyes.

Quinn watched the slight look cross the brunette's face and followed the girl's gaze down just as her mother was uncurling her bent fingers and placing her hand into the splint, it was padded, but she wouldn't know it if it weren't for the fact that she could see it. Her hands felt nothing, not the way her mother gently held them, and not the brace.

"Can you feel that?" Rachel blurted and then winced.

Mary adjusted the pillow underneath Quinn's arm and repeated everything on the other side. Finally she was sure all the supportive measure's were in the proper place.

"I think I will run to the cafeteria quickly while your brother is here. Is that okay, baby?"

Quinn blushed at the term of endearment being used in front of the teenager.

Quinn waited for the vent to cycle through. "It's fine mom... you can go t... to a restra...nt."

"The cafeteria is fine." She placed a gentle kiss on Quinn's forehead and then moved the nurse call device into place where her daughter's lips could grasp the straw.

Quinn humored her hovering mother by demonstrating she could, in fact, reach the straw. Then Sam bustled her out with a promise that he would stay until she returned.

"No, I'm... I can only... feel my shoulders." Quinn closed her eyes for a moment. Actually, she could only feel the tops of her shoulders down to her collarbones. Though that sensation was very newly returned and the doctors were still cautiously optimistic more would return.

"I-I-I don't understand." Rachel looked between Quinn and Sam. She wanted to ask why she was there, but managed, barely, to squelch her question.

"I broke my neck." The ventilator cycled through, but Sam spoke up in the silence.

"She can't breathe or move." He turned to Quinn, looking slightly ashamed. "Rachel's in Glee and she needed some cheering up and we don't know anybody, so..."

A wheezy chuckle erupted from Quinn, followed by gurgling splutter. Her eyes widened and darted to the straw at her lips.

"What's going on?"

Sam was on his feet leaning over his sister. "Stay calm, Q. You're okay." He ignored Rachel as his sister was his only focus in that moment.

The nurses bustled in and Rachel found herself moved over to the corner. Sam came over a second later, but he had his phone out and he was talking to his mother down in the cafeteria. He sounded a little worried, but not overtly and Rachel calmed slightly.

The nurses had started up a machine and it was making a suctioning sound. Rachel drifted closer, too curious to realize that she was invading Quinn's space in a vulnerable moment.

The nurse disconnect the vent from the trach tubing and insert the suction tube. They had Quinn flat on her back now.

Rachel watched Quinn's chest stop moving as this all took place, the girl's neck muscles heaved and her eyes widened with strain.

Rachel reached out hesitantly for a moment and then rubbed the top of Quinn's shoulder. She didn't know what was happening or why. She was just drawn towards the hurt girl and wanted to comfort her. Quinn's eyes locked on her. Rachel saw the fear and discomfort and gave her most reassuring smile and then brushed back some strands of blonde hair that fell into Quinn's eyes.

It only took awhile, the nurses were a well oiled machine. They suctioned Quinn's lung of the secretions the girls was no longer able to relieve on her own anymore. The ventilator was back in place and her mouth suctioned out as well to relieve her of the saliva that formed as a result of the gag reflex from the trachea suctioning.

Mary popped in. She looked a little frantic, but the nurses were speaking to her and reassuring her that Quinn was just fine. She was unable to cough on her own and choked.

Quinn wanted to thank the girl, though she was embarrassed by it and upset that she couldn't even cough on her own. She had to be taught how to cough again. She was too tired and shortly after she succumbed to her bodies immense need for sleep.

-GLEE-

Sam followed Rachel's directions to her house and realize that his Grandmother's house was not that far away.

"My Grandmother's house isn't too far from here." He pointed over the tops of the houses.

"Why did you come here for your sister's therapy?"

Sam shrugged one shoulder. "Mom refuses to leave her. And, well, dad does his best, but with the little ones..."

"I understand. If you need anything, with your brother or sisters, please I-I want to help. Everyone thinks I'm selfish and only focused on making it to Broadway, and yes, I am determined to do that, but, there is more to me."

Sam laughed again, "Relax Rachel. You didn't run away when you found out about Quinn. Nor did you run away with what happened back there. You're good in my books

-GLEE-

Rachel sat in front of her computer late in the evening. Her eyes drooped with the fatigue yet she was surprisingly wired. Rachel bit her lip in thought, her hands hovering over the keyboard. The mouse cursor blinked in the google search bar. Her fingers took a life of their own typing in: Quinn Fabray-Evans Cheerleading Accident. She couldn't bring herself to hit the search button though. She wanted, no, needed to know what happened. Sam had slipped her bits and pieces, but she was still clueless, and right then googling it seemed wrong.

With a weary sigh she turned the screen off and climbed into her bed.

**TBC**

Please review as it helps my writing. What would you like to see happen.


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you for the kind reviews and feedback. I will try to write longer chapters.

**Chapter 4**

Rachel woke after a very restless night. Midway through she gave in and booted up her laptop again, but refrained, just barely, from googling Quinn. Instead, she researched everything she could about spinal cord injuries. She had a rather large binder full of research. Consequently, she slept horribly and went without her morning elliptical routine; a rarity for her.

"Good morning star." Hiram kissed Rachel's forehead as she plopped heavily onto a stool at the kitchen counter.

"Daddy. Dad," was her mumbled greeting.

Leroy stopped mid-flip of his award-winning vegan pancakes at the despondent response. It flopped heavily onto the kitchen floor.

"Is your throat still bothering you?" He asked. She'd been mopping around for days. "We can always seek a second opinion, star."

She shook her head. "It is feeling much better."

Hiram and Leroy gave each other looks. She always loved his pancakes, after all it was the 'Rachel Berry award for excellence in vegan cooking' that made the fluffy breakfast item award winning.

She was staring at her hand that held a fork as if it was a foreign object.

Rachel was lost in thought thinking about all the different neurological synapses that told her hand to hold the fork. And it all happened without her having to think about it.

"Star are you listening?"

"What? Yes."

"Did something happen at school?"

"No, there's this new boy at school and.."

Hiram rolled his eyes. Somehow his precious little baby girl had turned into a boy-crazy teenager without his permission.

"...and I am not interested in him, daddy."

"Did the other kids bully him?" That was Leroy. The Berry's had threatened to enroll Rachel in a private school if McKinley didn't get their act together. Too many tears were shed at that school.

"No. Sam's really nice. He joined Glee or Puck tricked him into joining, but he was really nice to me when everyone was angry with me though I think he was put out by my reasoning and in hindsight I don't blame him." It was said in one long breath leaving the Berry men bewildered.

Rachel looked at her watch. She was going to be late.

"Bye Dad. Daddy." She stood on her tippy toes, kissed each father in turn, grabbed her backpack from the closet and ran out the door.

Hiram looked at the clock. Rachel had a good hour and a half before she was to report to school.

-GLEE-

His blue eyes were locked on his sister's sleeping face when Rachel peaked through the windows to Quinn's room. He was just staring at her, unmoving, his eyes were haunted.

Rachel had never seen pain so prominent. Her family had never felt the type of pain this family had obviously felt.

She was just about to head out, when he turned towards the door. His eyes locked on hers for the briefest of moments.

Sam turned back to his sister. She was still asleep and he was beating himself up. Not a day went by that he didn't bear the weight of the world on his shoulders.

He leaned down and kissed her brow. "I'll catch you later, Quinn."

He failed to notice that his mother was now awake and watching.

Sam shut the door behind him quietly. The nurses would be around any moment to start Quinn's day.

"Hi Rachel. What are you doing here?" His voice was pleasant despite the turmoil still present in his blue eyes.

"I wanted to wish Quinn a good day." She admitted. Despite his reassurances last night, Rachel was unsure if the early morning visit was appreciated.

He motioned to the room. "Quinn had a bad night. She's still sleeping."

"Is she alright?"

That was a loaded question, if ever there was one. "I suppose. She started sweating badly after we left and her blood pressure kept dropping."

Rachel let out an involuntary gasp.

"The doctors call it autonomic dysreflexia, and I guess it's her body's way of saying that something is wrong." His mother called to tell his Grandmother what was happening. He'd rushed back only to not be allowed into the room.

"Is... Is it better now?"

"Yeah. It was her catheter, I, um..." He took a deep breath. "Quinn wouldn't want me to talk about it. Anyway, mom, she's..." He bit out a big sigh.

Rachel saw, the night before the big round bag that was attached to the bed rails, but it was only after she researched in the middle of the night, that she learned the bag and the tubing that ran from it under the blankets, drained the blonde's bladder because her body was no longer able to do it on its own.

They were at his car and Rachel climbed into the passenger side. They road in silence for a bit until he pulled into the parking spot near the doors of the high school.

"My mom, she just stares at my sister while she's sleeping. She just stares at her and I get so mad."

"Why?"

"Because. It should be me. It's all my fault."

With that he stormed off towards the school, leaving her bewildered, and a little bit speechless.

-GLEE-

Rachel's plan to not succumb to her curiosity lasted until right after lunchtime and her free period. She holed up in the back corner of the library. Moments later she opened her web browser and seconds after that she hovered the mouse curser over a news video link.

Rachel breathed deeply through her nose and pulled out her headphones. She did not know if Quinn was going to be a student at McKinley. Could McKinley even accommodate the blonde?

She didn't know, but just in case she wanted to protect her privacy.

Two news anchors appeared on the screen and behind them in a little box was the same photo of the Fabray-Evans family that she looked at the night before.

"This is Action 5 news at 9 with an incredible story of one family's triumphs that turned tragedy. What you are about to see is hard to watch." The female news woman spoke into the camera.

The video footage was from behind, but Rachel recognized Quinn's blonde hair pulled into a high pony. She felt a rock settle in her stomach at the thought that what was about to happen would leave her new friend unable to move from the neck down.

The males prepared to hoist the cheerleaders up into the air, one for each of the girls. She saw the two spotters move into position at either end. The rock grew larger. She knew nothing about cheerleading, except that until she met Quinn, she would have called every cheerleader ruthless. Rachel found herself whispering no out loud as the cheerleaders were hoisted high in the air, their arms raised above their heads in a high V. The one next to Quinn began to twist for her dismount and the male stumbled slightly sideways.

What happened next left Rachel gasping for air. It was so quick, if she blinked, she would have missed it.

The cheerleader's leg as she twisted clipped the male's arms that was holding Quinn high above his head pulling his arm and hand out from under Quinn's feet. In an instant the blonde fell landing sideways on her head, her body's inertia kept moving. Panic broke out on the court at the two downed cheerleaders. The male holding Quinn was pulled away, Rachel could hear his sobs over the video camera, he broke from the hold and as someone turned him away again, the crowd surrounding Quinn parted to let the emergency workers in, Rachel gasped.

It was Sam. Sam was Quinn's lift partner. Sam was holding Quinn high in the air, it was his arm that was pulled out from under her. Rachel felt like she'd been punched in the gut. His confusing words earlier about being to blame came back to her and made more sense then.

Rachel felt nauseous and shaky as she turned her laptop off and headed towards Glee.

-GLEE-

She never made it to Glee, instead, she walked to the nearest bus stop and road the city bus towards the hospital.

She wouldn't know what to say to Sam and she wasn't sure she could pretend that she didn't know what happened around him.

It was only after she entered the elevator to ride to the rehab floor, that she remembered he was in detention and not Glee.

She shook her head at her silliness. What was it about this Quinn Fabray-Evans that worked her way into every thought and action?

**TBC**

Up next Rachel and Quinn's friendship take off. Quinn's recovery kicks into high gear.


	5. Chapter 5

See Chapter 1 for the disclaimer.

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Quinn woke to a deep heavy breathing sound. For a moment she thought she was back in her childhood when Sam chased after her pretending to be darth vader. He knew she hated it and would tackle her to the ground, pinning her underneath him, and smush his mouth into her ear while making the exaggerated sound. Though this was different, more like that of a deep, deep sleep, it was equally annoying to her.

Awareness came back, the accident, the ventilator making the annoying sound, being unable to feel or move anything below the tops of her shoulders. Quinn blinked herself awake to the low hum of voices just barely audible over the ventilator forcing oxygen in and out of her lungs.

"Daddy." She said, but no sound came out of her mouth. She furrowed her brow in annoyance that she couldn't turn her head to see them, nor speak without the little valve that went into her tracheotomy. She couldn't sleep with it in and upon waking up she always felt even more helpless. She wanted off the ventilator so that she had her voice all of the time. Would they notice she was awake or did she need to summon the nurses?

Dwight noticed that she was awake a moment later and crossed over to her.

"Good morning, sweetie."

"Itch." She mouthed.

"What itches, baby girl?"

"Eyes are itchy." She wanted to reach up and scratch them, get the sleep gunk out, but much like her voice just then, telling her arms to move produced no results.

Dwight pressed the secondary call button to alert the nurses.

"Can I help you?" It was the nurses desk, spoken through a speaker built into the bed rails.

"My daughter is awake."

"We'll be right in, Mr. Evans."

Dwight crossed to the bathroom and came back with a warm washcloth.

"Close your eyes, baby girl."

Quinn did and felt as he rid her tear ducts of the hardened gunk and gently rubbed her closed eyelids in circular motions.

Dwight was scared to death he was pressing too hard and would damage her eyes. He was the look of concentration and so focused on the task at hand that he missed her lips moving.

Quinn wrinkled her nose and finally opened the eyelid not being poked upon.

"What?"

"Press harder." She mouthed again.

He acquiesced with a slight smile, but the pressure only deepened just slightly.

It wasn't what she wanted and she grew a little more frustrated. "Harder, dad!"

But Dwight was finished and heading towards the bathroom again.

Soon afterwards a nurse and the respiratory therapist bounded in.

"Let's get you suctioned and get that speaking valve in, hmm?"

Quinn's eyes lit up despite hating the suctioning process. It produced a bad gag reflex and saliva in her mouth that threatened to choke her, but it was necessary. The respiratory therapist, Susan, was reading the printouts on the ventilator and then called her parents over. She sounded pleased about the readouts.

Quinn didn't bother to listen to their conversation. She was thinking about working hard in therapy so she could come off the vent. Her parents were learning how to take care of her and she saw the looks they tried to hide. Sorrow and worry were the most common. If she could come off the vent, then they never had to worry about suctioning her or all the different alarms and what they meant. She worried some, though she tried not to show it. Would her mother be able to take care of her? Would she always be dependent on nurses?

Quinn was just learning what it meant to be a Quadriplegic and it scared her.

The valve finally went in and Susan adjusted the alarms and disappeared from Quinn's limited vision to fiddle with the settings on the portable vent attached to the loaner chair.

Her Occupational Therapist, Allison, popped in as Susan was leaving. Her days were a revolving conveyer belt of therapists. Susan would be back to work on her breathing later.

-GLEE-

It was a long day for Quinn. Her parents dressed her, and started to learn how to use the hoyer lift all under the observations and guidance of the occupational therapist. Then she spent a couple hours in the chair. It was all she could manage before the pain in her neck became too much and forced her back into bed for a nap. The time was spent learn to drive the chair, but also building endurance. The therapists were pleased, but Quinn was impatient. She was a teenager and wanted to get on with teenage things.

They let her rest and then once again, after lunch, moved her to her chair for more training.

Once again she was driving the chair down the hallway towards her room after a round in the gym where the physical therapists stretched her arms and legs. She couldn't drive a straight line and was pretty sure she looked a little drunk.

As she entered her room a short woman with ginger hair stood up. She was ringing her hands nervously as she hesitated when Mary held out her hand to her in greeting. Reluctantly she shook her hand and then immediately dug around in her purse, pulling out sanitary wipes in the process.

Quinn shared a look with her mother.

"Mrs. Fabray-Evans. I'm Emma Pillsbury, the guidance counselor at McKinley High."

Quinn perked up from where her mind was starting to wander. Every moment she focused mentally on trying to move, a finger, a toe, her hand, foot, arm, whatever it was.

"It's a pleasure." Mary motioned to the couch and they moved over towards them.

Quinn puffed and followed suite and Emma smiled up at her once they adults settled. She had a file with papers in her lap.

"You must be Quinn. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Quinn smiled back widely. She liked school. Would she be able to attend?

"We've processed your transcripts and you are in some very advanced classes." Emma was quite impressed by the information on the transcript. As it were the girl jumped straight to the top of the sophomore class beating out Mike Chang.

Quinn shrugged, but her body remained still. "... ot just a pretty face." She wrinkled her nose at not timing her words carefully.

Ms. Pillsbury nodded in understanding.

Quinn smiled in return. It was a common misconception that she was just a pretty blonde. Quinn Fabray-Evans was so much more than that and her grades showed it. The smile was back as her eyes sparkled with humor.

"I like to learn..." Her eyes darted to the file. "I don't want to fall...behind."

"Yes, we have a tutor set that will work with you here until you are able to attend on campus."

"Mom?" Quinn turned her chair so she was facing her mother more. Life would be easier when the neck brace came off and she could turn her head.

"What is it, honey?" Mary stood then forcing Quinn to look up with her eyes. She eyeballed the water and licked her lips. "I'm thirsty. May I have some water?"

"Of course, let me grab it for you, one second." Mary darted off to the table and returned a moment later with the big bottle that hand the flexible straw and bent it towards Quinn's mouth.

Quinn drank a bit and then pushed at the straw with her tongue.

A nurse popped in. There was a lot of things that happened in the previous five weeks. She had surgery to repair her broken C4 vertebrae in her neck, they'd also had to sew a big flap of her scalp back down, she had to deal with a massive concussion that and it's associate issues that affected her vision. Then there was being dependent on everyone to do everything for her from feeding like an infant to scratching her nose.

She was a prisoner in her own body and what she couldn't deal, more than anything else, was the complete loss of control of her bowel and bladder. The doctors and nurses were abnormally obsessed with her input and even more so with her output. She had to pee in a bag that hung on her lower leg or chair, and she didn't even know when she was doing it. Worse than that was her bowels and the diaper she wore. They let lose with no warning and she only knew it from the smell.

She couldn't see what was happening beside her, but as the nurse moved around her, Quinn heard the sound of liquid draining. She closed her eyes unable to handle seeing the look on the guidance counselor's face. She felt tears trickle down her face and tried to blink them back.

-GLEE-

Emma closed the door behind her quietly. She had her mission and had her work cut out for her. There were preparations the school needed to implement in order to ensure Quinn could thrived. At least one of the classes needed to be moved to the lower level. They made sure all of Artie's were on the ground floor as the school was not equipped with an elevator. This was different as classes would be well into session for the winter term by the time Quinn was able to attend.

"Ms. Pillsbury?"

"Rachel. I didn't expect to see you here."

Emma greeted the diva pleasantly. They were down the hallway from Quinn's room.

"Oh, I'm visiting Quinn. Sam invited me yesterday, but we didn't get to visit much."

Emma smiled pleased that Rachel was making friends. The brunette visited her office often and Emma knew that despite not showing it to her classmates much, it bothered Rachel that she didn't make friends easily.

"Well, I am pleased that Quinn will have a friend when she starts."

Rachel shrugged.

"You might give them a moment, Rachel." Emma indicated the closed door and the breakdown the girl just had. "Have a nice afternoon Rachel."

"You too, Ms. Pillsbury."

**TBC**

Please review.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Rachel waited awhile outside the door and a eventually she heard a nurse speak.

"We'll get you in bed in about a half hour, Quinn," she said right before exiting.

Rachel knocked and Quinn's mother motioned her in. Quinn's back was to the door and all that Rachel could make out was the very top of a tan knit cap Quinn wore on her head. She had it on last night too.

"Who is it?" Quinn asked. She couldn't tell it, but she was leaning towards her left side, and her mother threaded her arms under Quinn's armpits and hoisted Quinn more upright and center. Quinn grunted as her body immediately started to sag back to the left, completely slack. Mary repeated the action, this time keeping one hand on her daughter's shoulder to provide resistance against gravity and tightened the safety belt around that went around the blonde's chest.

"It's Rachel, I think, honey." Mary pulled the girl's name from her memory having only met her briefly the night before. "I'm very grateful Rachel, dear, that you comforted Quinnie last..."

"Mom!" Quinn protested the childhood nickname with a roll of her eyes for added emphasis.

"I'm sorry," Mary held her hands up in surrender, "she doesn't like me calling her Quinnie," she told Rachel and then turned back to Quinn, "you don't dear."

The eyes rolled again, but the smile was firmly in place. Despite the ridiculous nickname she was glad that her mother was acting more like her old self. The upset and worried but trying not to show it version was deeply upsetting to Quinn because she knew that she was the cause of the worry.

Quinn had nothing to feel guilty about, it was an accident, but guilty she felt nonetheless.

"It was no big deal, Mrs. Fabray-Evans." Rachel shrugged it off.

"Please, call me Mary. Fabray-Evans is far to long to say. I'll leave you girls alone to gab." Mary kissed Quinn on the cheek much to the teenagers chagrin and stepped out into the hallway. The window curtains were opened and Mary positioned herself so she could see her daughter. Fear kept her from straying too far away.

"Where's Sam?" Quinn spun the chair slowly and quite jerkily in a 180 degree circle. He was not there. He had been there every day after school let out and so it was strange for him not to be there now.

"He's in detention."

"What? Why?" She yelled, it came out stronger, but still soft.

"He, um. Came across an incident and flipped out a little and then he yelled at Coach Sue, which, that women is crazy, so he's in detention. I took the bus."

Quinn didn't know why Rachel taking the bus was important, it seemed like a weird comment. "Okay?"

Rachel didn't continue, but was looking around the room with interest.

"What happened," Quinn prompted.

_Rachel ducked around the corner, intent on arriving at her English Lit class, without an ice cold slushy facial. She'd successfully avoided one for three periods. The jocks were in rare form having lost to the county rivals the night before._

_"Well, well, well. If it isn't little miss annoying." Karofsky sneered at her._

_She was cornered and had no choice but to take it. She steeled herself._

_"Azizimo." Karofsky grabbed the grape slushy from his fellow jock and launched it._

_Rachel's breath left her. No matter how many times she was slushied, she couldn't grow used to it. They were laughing at her. Loud cackles soaked into her being just like the ice dripping down between her shoulder blades._

_"Hey! Why don't you pick on someone your own size!" Sam yelled stomping down the hallway angrily. He'd seen the whole thing. He shoved Karofsky back away from Rachel. The element of surprise worked in his favor as the much stockier and taller boy stumbled backwards._

_"Sam don't." Rachel tried to stop him, but it was too late. The Cheerios started in with high pitched jabbering that sent Sam into a flurry. It wasn't the Cheerios in specifically, but cheerleaders in general. He had so much furry inside him._

_He launched himself at the big oath, his fists swinging as he went. The first pinch connected with Karofsky's jaw._

_"Simmer down! Justine Bieber wannabe." Sue wadded through the mass of bodies. "Let go of me!" Sam was still swinging. "That's some rage, Bieber."_

"Wait." Quinn interrupted. "Coach Sue Sylvester? Like... nine times National Champion... Coach Sylvester?"

Quinn wanted to smack herself in the forehead. She should have put two and two together.

"The one and only, unfortunately."

Quinn was puzzled. There had to be more to it. "So Sam went ape on this... Karofsky kid and is in deten... tion?"

"Yes."

Quinn scrunched her face. "What about the other kid?"

Rachel shrugged, she didn't really want to talk about it. She knew she was some sort of freak that kept getting slushied.

Now Quinn was getting frustrated that Rachel became mute. She was smart. Quinn engaged the chair, turning it so to face Rachel better.

"He didn't get detention?" She deduced.

"It's n-not that big of a deal."

It was a big deal, but Quinn didn't know Rachel very well. It explained why her father hadn't shown up that evening.

"Rach."

Rachel smiled. No one but her daddy called her Rach. "What? Do you need something?" Rachel stood up suddenly forcing Quinn to glance up with her eyes. Rachel wasn't tall by any means. Quinn was simply at a disadvantage being stuck in a seated position.

A harsh gravelly chuckle came from the blonde. "Relax... Just don't tell mom."

Her brother was going to be in deep trouble when she found out.

"Knock knock." A nurse poked her head in. "Ready to get in bed?" She asked as she maneuvered around the teens.

"Yes." Her neck was hurting again and despite the indignity it took to actually get in the bed, Quinn was ready to lay flat again.

"Do you want your friend to step outside?" Mary asked.

"I can go, Quinn." Rachel didn't want to be in the way or make her potential new friend uncomfortable.

Quinn blinked her eyes shut. She didn't want anyone to see this. She wanted to get up out of the chair and lay down on her own. And yet, she had enjoyed talking with Rachel. For awhile there she'd forgotten her problems.

"You can stay... If you want."

Mary looked surprised, but then nodded towards the couch.

"Alright, Quinn, let's do this." The nurse was young, but kind. There were a few that Quinn really didn't like and she was glad this one wasn't one of them.

The hoist was brought over. Mary knelt down to the footrests and gently began removing Quinn's sneakers. Once they were off and out of the way the nurse called her over and the chest strap was unfastened.

Quinn felt her body sag limply forward and was unable to do anything to stop it. She didn't go far, her upper body rested against her mothers chest. Quinn swallowed as hard as she could. Over her mother's shoulder she saw Rachel watching everything. The teenager's expression gave nothing away. Quinn wondered what she was thinking.

The canvas sling went around her back and then Quinn was leaned back against the backrest. The nurse talked Mary through securing the leg straps, and then her arms were moved one at a time until they were crossed and in her lap to protect them. Quinn didn't feel it on her arms as they were picked up, but she felt the residual movement in her shoulders and neck. Everything was secure and she was ready. The chair vent was disconnected.

"Okay Quinn, we're going to lift now." The nurse had Mary use the controller to raise the lift. Even though the canvas sling was under her Quinn felt as if her head was floating on nothingness. Her heart beat a little faster, the pressure on her neck grew, and she was forcing air through her lungs with the muscles in her neck only.

"That's high enough, Mary." The nurse was supporting underneath her charge's neck to provide even more support. The concern was clear in Quinn's hazel eyes.

Rachel watched on from across the room. She was trying not to stare, but she couldn't help it. Quinn was in the air and the nurse swung the harness, with Quinn in it, away from the chair and over to the bed. Rachel swallowed hard as the pale legs showed no resistance as they hung limply from the straps. Rachel swallowed hard.

The hoist was lowered and Mary held onto her daughter's thin legs as she was lowered down. She straightened them out so they didn't get caught underneath Quinn. The hoist went slack and the nurse gently released Quinn's neck. The room ventilator was connected to her trachea and Quinn felt the pressure in her chest lesson as air was forced through her lungs at a better rate than she could do with her paralyzed diaphragm. Oxygen flooded into her brain and Quinn's thoughts cleared from the fog that had seeped in. The nurse rested her hand on Quinn's shoulder.

"Take your time and we'll go when you are ready."

Quinn closed her eyes. It only took but a moment to move her from the chair to the bed, yet it felt like a lifetime. She was helpless now, unable to move or roll. At least in the power chair, she had some control.

"Okay. Ready. Which side?"

"Right side." Quinn smiled. On her right side, she could sorta see out of the window in the room overlooking the hallway. People came in and out of her view and she only caught fragments, but it was far better than starring at ceiling tiles.

The hoist was removed from under her and an absorbent pad was placed under her hips. "Do you want into your sleepwear now or later?"

"Later after dinner." Quinn pulled a face at the thought of being fed.

She was rolled onto her right side and a long support pillow was placed against her back. Without it, she would have just flopped backwards onto the bed. A second pillow was moved into place under her chest. The nurse gave Mary some pointers and the pillow was repositioned. Finally, Quinn's legs were bent at a forty-five degree angle with a pillow stuck between her knees.

Rachel stayed for awhile after, but could tell Quinn was spent. She said her goodbye's as Quinn's eyes drifted shut.

The bus ride home was spent lost deep in her thoughts.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Quinn worked hard over the following weeks in her therapies. Eventually she was able to be weened from the ventilator. Still she was unable to take big deep breaths, but worked with her respiratory and speech therapists to learn to control her cadence so she didn't run out of breath mid-sentence.

She was currently sat in the big workout room on a padded table. She was sitting upright being supported by one of her physical therapists whom was kneeling behind her using her body to stabilizing Quinn. Amy, her main physical therapist was in front of her, talking her through the exercise.

She was trying her hardest to keep her head upright. Quinn closed her eyes and tried to think about anything but the deadweight of her body pulling on her head and neck. She felt as if a noose was tied around her neck and she was slowly being strangled.

Her neck muscles had atrophied while being immobilized and she didn't have her back muscles to help pull her head backwards or keep her shoulders from slumping forward. She was having to learn to use her functioning muscles to compensate for those that no longer worked. She looked like a woodpecker, a very, very slow motion woodpecker, trying to keep her head upright and shoulders back. A fine line of sweat dampened her forehead.

"What you did is just unacceptable, Samuel!" Mary spoke angrily into her cell phone. "No, I will not calm down. Do you even care...

Quinn lost her concentration as she instinctively turned her head as much as she could to look at her mother. She rarely ever raised her voice. Quinn's shoulders slumped forward and her head bobbed down towards her chest.

Amy caught her head gently, as the second therapist looped her arm around Quinn's chest from behind.

"Your moving your head better today, Quinn, but try to concentrate." Amy smiled gently at the teenager.

"Okay," she was repositioned again and tried to ignore her mother whom moved out into the hallway. The soft mummer of Mary's angry voice drifted.

"Let's try five seconds."

"Okay," Quinn put all her effort into it.

"Four."

Her neck quivered from the workout it was getting away.

"Three."

"Good girl, two."

Quinn gritted her teeth.

"One!"

Her shoulders were pushed back into a better position. Quinn caught her breath and flashed a face splitting grin.

"I'm totally pumping my fists right now."

-GLEE-

"Let me see it again."

"Why?" Rachel frowned and made no effort to move from where she was perched on the edge of the hospital bed. Her legs dangled over the side and she lazily swung them.

Quinn rolled her eyes, "because, I want to see it again."

"You are so morbid, Quinn Fabray." Rachel protested, but jumped from the bed anyway as she scrolled through the photos on her cell phone.

Quinn scrunched her face, "between the scar on my back, the one on my head, and the gaping hole in my neck, I look like Frankenstein."

"See, this is why you shouldn't look at them."

"A hi-tech Frankenstein?"

"Quinn!"

"You should see your face Rachel." The girl looked offended which Quinn found hillarious.

"You don't look like Frankenstein. Did you know that Young Frankenstein lasted for only two years on Broadway and..."

Quinn chuckled. She found Rachel amusing, if slightly weird and definitely obsessed with all things Broadway and Barbara. She was only half-joking about looking like Frankenstein. The incision on her neck was long and red and angry, but the stitches had come out and she would eventually be able to hide it with long hair.

The long jagged one in her hair line where she almost scalped herself bothered her. They'd shaved all around the patch in order to sew her back together. The hair would never grow along the scar line. That's why she always had a knit cap on. It worked for now, it was winter, but she couldn't hide it under a cap forever.

It was the deep round divot in the front of her throat, currently hidden under a white bandage, that bugged her the most. It would always be on display for the whole world to see. Quinn tried to remind herself that because of it she was alive. Without it she would have suffocated to death while her lungs were paralyzed.

But Quinn, was a teenager and a teenage girl at that. These things mattered to her.

"... and I'm going to be a Broadway star. Hey, are you even listening to me?" Rachel huffed.

"You're going to be a Broadway star," Quinn dead panned. She'd heard it before and it was a safe bet. She needed to stop drifting off into her thoughts so much.

"Hey, what did Sam do last week?" No one would tell her. They thought they were protecting her so she could focus on her rehab, but it just distracted her more. He's Sam. He's her twin and she needed to know.

Rachel huffed again and plopped back down on the bed.

"You don't want to know."

Quinn narrowed her eyes, puffed into the straw, and rolled closer.

"He punched Dave in front of Principal Figgins," Rachel blurted out.

Quinn growled. It was sudden and loud, louder than Quinn normally made sounds.

Rachel's eyes widened, "um, and he kicked a chair in glee. And..."

"Don't, just don't." Quinn closed her eyes and let her head lean harder against the headrest. Her twin, normally fun loving and carefree, was a loose cannon. His anger was eating at him and he was going to explode if something wasn't done about it. Quinn understood it. Somedays she just wanted to slam a door, find release when she felt too full inside.

"I'm going to run him over. Seriously, I'm going to run him over. I can't believe him."

"Okay...what?" Rachel liked Quinn. The girl was pretty easy going, very easy to talk to, and not like any of the cheerleaders at McKinley who were only interested in verbally assaulting her daily. Making her life miserable was what Santana and her goons lived for. With Quinn, Rachel felt like she could just be herself.

She was surprised by the frustration evident in her friend's voice.

"Well I can't give him a good whopping on the head to knock some sense into him."

"Was he always so, hmm, explosive? No, that's not entirely right... one minute he's nice and happy and funny, then he just goes off." It was quite scary if Rachel was honest.

"It's the accident, Rach. He's chosen to blame himself. I, um, did he tell you what happened?" Quinn asked though she didn't want to talk about it. She fought to remain her composure.

Rachel stared at Quinn unsure of what to say and afraid that the truth would drive a wedge between their budding friendship. But Rachel Berry was honest. She always believed in telling the truth, sometimes she was brutally truthful, it was a flaw of hers. In that moment she contemplated lying.

"No," she hook her head. "I know what happened though. I googled your accident," she bit her lip.

"You googled me?" Quinn asked in disbelief.

Rachel shrugged feeling the same shame she did weeks earlier. "Well, yeah, but I only meant to not make you feel awkward or upset. No ill harm was meant, Quinn, I swear."

Quinn ducked her eyes for a moment to gather her thoughts. She was embarrassed that she was googleable. That the world, media, her fellow classmates or whomever thought that what happened to her was worth posting on the web, made her heart climb into her throat. She felt sick.

"Quinn?" Rachel asked. She was expecting some sort of reaction, but Quinn was silent. Rachel couldn't even tell if she was breathing. "I-I-I'll just go," she stuttered out. Rachel felt devastated, she'd ruined the only friendship she'd ever had. She stood and grabbed her backpack from off the couch.

Quinn was lost in her own thoughts, remembering what she could about that night, which wasn't much. She remembered getting the littles ready as she helped out as much as possible. She remembered warming up with her cheer squad and teasing Sam about dropping her because she agreed to date Jeff Stevenson just to spite him. Sam wasn't fond of the basketball player. Actually, he wasn't fond of anyone Quinn dated. Quinn remembered the teasing right before they went out for the game and then nothing. She had no memories until she woke up in the ICU. Her head hurt so bad that she didn't really understand what was happening, just that they wouldn't let her sleep and when they did, they kept waking her up. But she didn't remember hitting the ground, or the sound her neck made when it snapped.

"I-I-I didn't mean to offend you, Quinn." Rachel tried again, but Quinn hadn't lifted her eyes. She sighed and started towards the door.

"Wait!" Quinn caught the movement in her periphery. "Where are you going?"

"I'm leaving. I'm sorry."

"No, wait." Quinn turned so she wasn't straining so much and could see Rachel much better. She was hit with the sudden fear that her only friend was leaving and wouldn't come back. She had friends, but they hadn't visited. They couldn't visit when she was in the ICU, but they could now and they hadn't. She talked with a couple on the phone, but it was strained.

She didn't want Rachel to leave. "Stay, please."

Rachel hesitated and then sat on the end of the bed again.

"It's not really okay," Quinn shrugged. "I don't remember it, but you should just ask, Rach."

The brunette looked equal parts stunned and like she was going to explode with excitement.

"Why does your face look like that?"

"You shrugged."

Quinn furrowed her brow. "No, I didn't." She was constantly telling her shoulders to shrug. More feeling had come back in them just the last few days.

"You did, Quinn. You shrugged." Rachel leaned forward, "try it again."

Quinn licked her lips, her tongue darting out for a moment. She focused hard on the muscles in her shoulders and there just barely her right one lifted just slightly, before gravity worked against her.

"I shrugged," the smile started small and then grew, "I shrugged!" She whooped, "it moved. I shrugged."

Rachel went over to Quinn, "I'm going to hug you now."

She did, right there in the middle of Quinn's hospital room all the unsureness and reservation from weeks before, were just gone and she reached out, her arms looping around Quinn and the wheelchair both.

**TBC**

**please review**

Up next Quinn takes a trip outside the hospital and meets some of the Glee Club.


	8. Chapter 8

I am just overwhelmed from all the reviews. Thank you to everyone who has taken interest and reviewed. This chapter took off on me and I didn't get to the promised outing. I type one handed, so it takes me awhile to type a chapter. I wanted to get this part out instead of making everyone wait.

Enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 8

Rachel stormed through the door to Quinn's hospital room completely ignoring both Mrs. Fabray-Evans and the therapist sat near the blonde. She flopped down hard on the bed, her arms spread out wide and stared at the ceiling tiles. They were really ugly, she thought.

"I found her."

Quinn licked her lips, "who?"

"My mother. I found her in the library."

Mary looked at Quinn. Quinn shook her head and shrugged. She could do that now and took every opportunity she could to move her shoulders.

"Can I have a drink, please?" Her eyes darted to the water pitcher on her nightstand.

"Oh, yes, sweetie. Let me grab it for you."

"I've been researching her all morning and as I suspected my intuition has been proven correct," Rachel said in one long breath, completely obvious to everything going around her.

Mary picked up the pitcher, she placed the bent straw to her daughter's lips. Quinn sucked greedily for a moment and when she had her fill, she pushed the straw away with her tongue.

"Thanks, mom."

"My mother is none-other-than Broadway legend Patti LuPone."

Mary stuttered in her steps halfway back to the nightstand. Even the therapist had stopped watching Quinn for any signs of distress and turned to look at the pint-sized diva.

Quinn was simply bemused, used to Rachel's crazy by then, and decided to play with her, "oh really?"

Rachel bolted upright on the bed and grabbed from her bag a thick binder chalked full of her proof that Ms. LuPone was, in fact, her biological mother. She bound over to Quinn flipping the book open as she went.

"I've always had a deep connection to Ms. LuPone, her choice of roles and songs. I decided to do a little math to see if her being my mother was even possible."

Quinn glanced the page. It was a timeline complete with gold star above the date, 'Dec. 18, 1994'.

"I was born on Dec. 18, 1994," Rachel continued, still oblivious to everything but her diatribe. "'94 was a big year for mother."

Quinn rolled her eyes.

"She was a sensation in Pal Joey." Rachel tapped a copy of Musical Review.

Quinn squinted at the photo of Patti and then side eyed Rachel. The brunette was very serious. Quinn settled on quirking an eyebrow.

"But that was New York. I was born in Ohio, you say, well...," Rachel said.

She looked at Quinn. Quinn fought with herself from laughing in Rachel's face. Quinn motioned back to the book with her chin. There was a flurry of pages as Rachel flipped through to another article.

"... Mother took many breaks from the show to tour with Mandy Patinkin. That April found her at the EJ Thomas Hall in Akron, Ohio for a standing room performance, nine months before I was born."

Quinn scrunched her face, trying to not lose it, knowing fully that Rachel was being very serious. It was too ludicrous though. Mary sat with her mouth agape.

"Are you saying your fathers impregnated Patti LuPone at the Marriott in Akron?"

Rachel was nodding her head vigorously. A content smile on her face.

"Was Mandy Patainkin in on this?" Quinn teased.

"Quinnie," Mary warned. Truthfully Mary was glad to see her daughter having fun. Rachel was a constant visitor, showing up most nights and on the weekends. She'd turned into a good friend in just a few short weeks. The brunette was always a nice distraction in an otherwise very monotonous tiring routine.

"Hey, you're standing." Rachel seemed to come out of her stupor.

Quinn chuckled, "the chair is standing. I'm just along for the ride." She wasn't completely upright. The had the chair tilted backwards slightly.

The therapists started her on a tilt table awhile ago to build her endurance to get her upright where she could first sit in a chair and now they were working on endurance for a stander. It was good for her bones and circulation. It made her heart work harder. The family was learning just how much care it was going to take to keep her healthy.

They'd started testing out some demo chairs. This one was capable of going from sitting to reclining completely flat to raising her vertically upright to a standing position. The problem was that her body didn't know what to do after being laid flat or sitting down for so long. Her blood pressure kept dropping and so she had a monitor hooked up up to her right bicep. Her arms were resting comfortably out in front of her on a table. Her fingers were splayed out flat to keep them from curling on themselves.

"All you have to do is look at pictures of her in her performance in Masterclass in 1996."

A publicity still was produced and shoved in Quinn's face. Quinn leaned her head back to get a better view.

"Look at the pain in her eyes from the hurt she's feeling from giving up her obviously talented little girl."

Quinn had her fill of teasing Rachel. She didn't want her friend to get hurt and as it was, all Quinn could see coming from this was hurt.

"Honey, why are you looking this up?" Mary asked.

"Oh. Someone from the school board showed up at Glee, a Mr. Bryan Ryan, I think, and he asked us to think about our dreams, and obviously I'm going to be a Broadway star."

"Obviously," Quinn cut in.

"But then this friend, Jesse, he asked me what my dream really was and I just want to know who my mother is."

"Do you really think that Patti LuPone is your mother, dear?"

Rachel looked between Quinn and Mary. Both wore matching expressions of understanding and worry.

"Do you want to hear my research that proves Bernadette Peters is my mother?"

"Rachel," Quinn began. She needed to stop this before it grew to far out of hand. Quinn knew what it was like to want something so badly that it hurt so much you couldn't breath. "I know that you want to meet your mother, but maybe it's best if you just ask your dads, um, uh, he...they..."

Quinn shook her head, feeling like cobwebs had taken over her thoughts. "Hmm, your dad's to tell... I don't feel good."

One minute Quinn was looking at Rachel with clear eyes and concern, the next thing Rachel knew the blonde's eyes rolled up in her head. Her shoulders rolled forward, limp, and her head slid backwards, limp as it bounced against the headrest and settled there.

Rachel squeaked, "help!"

The therapist had already jumped to her feet triggering an alarm.

"She's okay, Rachel," Mary felt the need to reassure the energetic brunette, despite also feeling like panicking herself. She would have if she hadn't witnessed this very same thing happen the day before while they had her daughter standing up. She carefully lifted her firstborn's head as the therapist took control of the attendants controls at the back of the chair and was quickly lowering it flat.

Rachel hesitated for the briefest of seconds and grabbed Quinn's arms as they started to slide from the tray. She had this overwhelming urge to protect them, she didn't want Quinn to hurt them, even though she knew Quinn couldn't feel her arms.

A couple nurses bustled in and read the blood pressure readout. "Her BP is too low still."

There was a few tense minutes and Rachel found herself clutching Quinn's hand. She didn't realize she was holding her breath until one of the nurses indicated that Quinn's blood pressure had stabilized. The air left Rachel's lungs in one giant whoosh. She felt a little shaky.

"Quinn's going to be fine, Mary. We're just going to get her in bed."

"Are we pushing her too hard?" Mary asked.

"Not at all. Her circulation is compromised. It's forcing her heart to work harder. We talked about this." It was the therapist that responded.

"I know, I just hate seeing her so helpless, though."

The conversation drifted in past the ringing in Rachel's ears.

"Standing is good for her, it helps with bone density, decreases her chances of developing osteoporosis. We simply need to build her endurance more."

Rachel pretended to not be eavesdropping on the conversation going on around her. The nurses were hustling around. One had deftly inserted an IV into the crook of Quinn's arm and held a bag of clear liquid high up in the air. They'd placed an oxygen mask over her face and another nurse was preparing the lift.

The binder of notes lay abandoned on the floor where it had been shoved off the table in the ensuing chaos of Quinn's collapse.

Rachel could see Quinn's eyes fluttering back and forth as she swam back into consciousness.

"Ugh," Quinn moaned and tried to bring her hand to her forehead. She felt equal parts sweaty and cold. The world swam in front of her as she blinked into the room. Her hand stayed clutched in Rachel's.

"Welcome back sweetie." Mary gently brushed her fingers through Quinn's hair. Quinn's brow furrowed and she licked her lips between the mask.

"I had a bad dream," she muttered. It was muffled and weak.

She couldn't feel it, but the nurse activated the blood pressure cuff. It started inflating and after a moment the machine beeped.

"'What's that?" Her view was strained. She could see the ceiling tile and the nurses standing over her. She followed the IV line upwards until it disappeared into the bag. Rachel and her mother were leaning over her wearing matching expressions of worry.

"We're just checking your blood pressure again, Quinn." One of the nurses that stood out of her view said.

"Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone were fighting over something. It was a cat fight, but I can't remember about what. Wait Rachel you have two mothers, too?" Quinn teased. It was either tease her friend or cry over passing out again. She'd much rather laugh than cry.

Rachel laughed despite the scary situation. "Ha-ha, that's funny Quinn Fabray-Evans."

"You know me. I'm just a stand-up comedian."

"That's horrible!" She slapped Quinn's arm.

"Ow, hey!" Quinn didn't miss a beat.

"You felt that!" Rachel squeaked out loudly, startling everyone in the room.

Quinn's eyes sparkled and she shook her head negatively. Beneath the mask she was smirking.

"That's not funny!"

TBC

Please take the time to review.


	9. Chapter 9: Note

I'm posting this on behalf do DAgron4Ever. She had spinal surgery a few days ago and there were a few complications during it and without going into too much detail she is in the ICU at the moment. The doctors have stopped the sedation and we hope she will be waking up soon. I know that she is very proud of this story and would want you all to know she will continue it when she's strong enough. If you want to reply with well wishes, I will pass them on.

DAgron4Ever's Sister


	10. Chapter 10

I want to thank to thank everyone who replied and sent me private messages. Some days just getting a little bit of support kept me going.

i have spinal muscular atrophy. I was diagnosed type 1 at 5 months old, but I didn't fall into all the criteria for type1. At a year they changed the diagnoses to type 2. I am a very weak type 2 and my scoliosis was squishing my lung. Without the surgery I would have been on oxygen full-time within a couple months, instead of just at night and when I'm tired/sick. Anyway my prognosis was grim without giving my lung more room to do it's thing.

i went into cardiac arrest during the surgery. Obviously they got me back and finished the part of the surgery they were on and decided it was too risky to continue on. In recovery and the days after I had several seizures. I don't remember anything from this time or for the days preceeding it, which I am told included an awesome birthday party that I enjoyed a lot.

i went home around the 5th of September with a trach and ventilator. I was only home again when a chest cold came and knocked me upside the head. It turned into pneumonia and I've been in the ICU since then. It was very grim at one point and my family said their goodbyes. I remember telling them they would be okay and I was ready to go.

thankfully the world has other plans for me and I'm still here wrecking havoc in my battle tank (my powerchair) and taking names later! I'm in a skilled nursing center getting stronger and getting mobile again. I plan on continuing this story as long as I can stay healthy.

Anyway thanks for all the well wishes and I'm looking forward to continuing Quinn's story.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: i do not own glee. No copywrite infringement intended.

thank you all for the well wishes. i'm still recovering and still getting stronger.

AN: technically this is ch.9 I believe but for the sake of my confusion I'll just call it ch. 11. This isn't my best work. Parts of it were written before my surgery and I couldn't really remember where I was going with things. Parts of this were written between three different hospital stays and an extended "vacation" in a nursing facility that doesn't really lead towards long moments of alone time to concentrate. So needless to say I'm not at all happy with this disjointed effort. But it's going out there so I can move on.

thank you to oracleismyname for writing Sue Sylvester for me.

extra shout-outs to whomever can tell me what movie one of Sue's quotes came from.

* * *

**Chapter 11**

"Hey Karofsky!" Sam yelled while making a beeline towards the giant oaf. It's not that Karofsky had done anything to Sam specifically. It's the jock constantly slushied Rachel, and he was big. That made him a target for Sam's anger.

"Well if isn't the Bieber wannabe." Karofsky laughed in Sam's face. "They let you out of juvie."

"I wasn't in juvie." He bit out, his fists clenching tightly. He'd been suspended for a few days for putting his fist through a locker. Well he tried to put his fist through a locker. The green cast on his arm itched and annoyed him. Plus, he had to listen to his mother lay into him three days straight about taking her away from his sister while she had to deal with his actions. He felt ashamed and that made him even angrier.

"I wasn't in juvie," Karofsky mocked. "Well isn't that special. Like your sister." He was leaning way into Sam's space.

"Don't you dare talk about my sister!" He was going to wipe that smile so far off the idiot's face that he would need plastic surgery to eat! He reared back.

"Bieber my office now!"

Karofsky broke out in a fit of laughter, his smirk firmly in place still on his face.

"Coach, not now." She had ahold of his arm.

"Yes. My office now Bieber!" His arm was yanked behind him as Sue marched him down the hall and into her office.

He yanked his arm away once inside the confines of the elaborate space.

"Sit down." Sue motioned to the seat.

Sam crossed his arms best he could and leaned against the wall defiantly instead.

"Bieber. Sit. Now."

"My name isn't Bieber. It's..."

"Samuel Jameson Fabray-Evans. Twin to Quinn Nicole Fabray-Evans. Brother to Stacey Lucille Fabray-Eva..."

"Okay!" Sam held out his hand to stop her. That was a little freaky. "How do you know that?" Other than Rachel he hadn't told anyone about Quinn.

"I'm Sue Sylvester. I know everything."

"What are you God?"

Sue waved her hand around in the air. "The ebb and flow of the Atlantic tides, the drift of the continents, the very position of the sun along its ecliptic. These are just a few of the things I control in my world!"

Sam didn't say anything, just stared at her totally befuddled. He knew about Coach Sylvester. He had been a cheerleader in Ohio after all. Everyone new about the crazy coach. He had no clue that she was this crazy.

"That jerk," Sue motioned out to the hallway. "He's not worth it. Your sister, she's worth it."

"What do you know about my sister!"

"Cut the attitude Bieber."

"I was there that night," she didn't need to explain any further.

"You were there?" His jaw dropped open and then clamped shut as the anger washed through him. "I ruined my whole family's life that night." His mind drifted back to the horror he felt as his father dragged him away from his sister as she lay on the court unmoving and not breathing.

"Oh, please spare me the sacrificial lamb sentiment," Sue's attitude then changed as she saw the look on the boys face. "That's not how I remember it and I don't think Q remembers it that way either."

"Quinn doesn't remember it at all."

"Maybe. It was a simple cheerleading accident. It's sport and sometimes things happen that we just can't control. You wouldn't have dropped her if your arm hadn't been caught by that other ... untalented girl." Sue had seen it in real time but still spotted the mistake hadn't been Bieber's.

"If you say so," he mumbled. "I still feel responsible."

"Well then you get to win the 'Martyr of the Year' Award; that's going to make your sister real proud." Sue stood up suddenly and motioned towards the door for Sam to leave. Sam wasted no time bee lining towards his freedom. He wasn't fast enough. As his hand closed around the doorknob she derailed his escape.

"Bieber, catch." A wad of clothes slapped him in the side of the head. "You need to get back on the horse, Kemosabe." She flashed a grin at him.

He picked them up and stared at them like he couldn't quite process what he was seeing. He held the red pants and the too tight shirt in his hands, limply; they mocked him like his sisters blood pooling on that gym floor.

"I, uh..." Words escaped him.

"See you at five am, Bieber."

He was shoved out the door and it closed behind him.

"Wait!" He finally managed. "I'm not a cheerleader!" The door was locked. "Coach?"

He jiggled it some more. "Coach?"

"Five am and not a second late or I'll stick Snix on you."

Sam scratched his head, "who?"

-GLEE-

"I said no." Sam was still riled up over being forced onto the Cheerios when he arrived at his sister's room that afternoon. His scowl was enough to darken even Brittany's constant bubbly mood.

"Come on, Sam." Quinn moaned. She didn't want to deal with the hassle of being moved over to the bed, just to be moved back into her chair in a little while. She especially didn't want the three year olds to see what it took to move her. So she was reclined flat in the power chair resting until her parents returned with Stevie and Stacey. Her father had a day off from work and they were going to eat as a family in the dining room. She didn't like it as she was one of the youngest there and only one of two quads at the time. A big table had been reserved for them. Subsequently she was stuck staring at the ceiling. It was too hard to lift her head any while reclined but she could turn it as she narrowed her eyes at him as he crossed over the room to sit in the chair near her.

"I don't want to see any girly movies, Quinn."

"You just don't want to be seen with me, I get it."

"What?" He jumped to his feet. "Why would you say something like that?"

"Because I look like Frankenstein and I can't move." She challenged. Her brother had been acting very weird since the accident and that was the conclusion that Quinn's mind came to. It was the only conclusion she came to. "You're embarrassed by me and don't want to be seen with me."

"No, that's not it. I love you and it's just some stupid girly movie. What does it matter why I don't want to go?" He looked like he was going to cry. Of the twins, Sam was the hyper happy all the time one But with a temper that easily emerged. Whereas Quinn was thoughtful, contemplative and usually fairly laid back.

"Fine, then I'll think of something else to do for my day pass."

Rachel pushed herself away from the wall that she'd been leaning against. She'd overheard the conversation, but decided to not let on just yet. She was pretty excited about it, Quinn had talked to her about wanting to get out of the hospital and how nervous she was. The girl was growing stir crazy.

Rachel may only be five foot nothing, but she wasn't too short to give Sam a piece of her mind. She would wait until he was away from Quinn though.

"Hey guys," she said brightly as she knocked on the door. Sam looked up and gave her a little smile before his scowl returned. Rachel wondered if he'd been this way before the accident too. He seemed the complete opposite of his twin. Quinn wasn't exactly bubbly, but she almost always had a smile on her face. Even the days that were bad, she was pleasant to be around. No one would blame her at all if she was grumpy, but she hardly ever was.

"Hey Rach," Quinn breathed out a little breathlessly.

Rachel watched as Quinn bumped the right side of her headrest and then took the little straw in her mouth. The back of the chair started to rise slowly. When she made it to about 45 degrees she stopped to catch her breath while her blood pressure adjusted to the new position.

"How's it going today?" Rachel inquired.

"It was going fine until..." Her eyes darted to Sam, but she was smiling to indicate that she was just teasing. Sam tried to look offended, but eventually he gave in and smiled back.

The chair raised again.

"It's not my fault Coach is being unreasonable," Sam defended himself.

"Sam is on the Cheerios," Quinn supplied a little breathlessly after raising the chair again.

Rachel's face fell, she couldn't stop her gut reaction to the news that another member of Glee was now a Cheerio. She didn't trust them at all.

Quinn was watching Rachel and noticed the shift in the brunette's attitude. She wanted to ask her new friend what was going on, but now wasn't the time. Her brother was oblivious as usual.

"Hey sis, you're squishing your hand," Sam interrupted the tension.

"What?" Quinn stopped her chair movement.

"Your hand." Sam motioned, but he stood also ready to help.

Quinn followed her his gaze back to her arm and sure enough the right one had fallen from where it was resting on her lap when she was reclined. Quinn closed her eyes in frustration for a moment.

"It's alright, sis."

Rachel watched the exchange between the siblings. She didn't want to interfere with the moment.

"Hey." Sam tugged on her ear like he was prone to do as a child. There was no response, save for a slight quivering in Quinn's lips.

Sam gently held her slender hand in his. Her arm was so heavy as he positioned it on the arm rest, uncurling her fingers and smoothing them over the molded end. A tear escaped her closed eyelids.

He glanced at Rachel like a deer stuck in headlights completely frozen. He hated whenever anyone cried and the fact that it was Quinn crying made it so much worse. He didn't know what to do.

"Please don't cry," he begged. His own voice sounded wobbly, making Quinn cry harder.

She gasped out of breath. The muscles in her neck forming a deep v as she tried to get more air in through the tears.

-GLEE-

The twins were sound asleep. One was zonked out on Sam and the other asleep on Dwight. He smiled over Stevie's sleeping head at his wife and daughter. Mary was sitting right next to Quinn, whom had just finished adjusting the angle of her power chair. She had a small smile on her face and was feeling content, despite having to be fed in front of people, and with the way the evening had transpired. Her breakdown earlier definitely wasn't forgotten, but she didn't want to dwell on it any longer than she had to. She was pretty sure the psychologist she was seeing as part of her rehab would make her analyze it to death. However there was one person she needed to apologize too.

"Mom," Quinn whispered.

Sam looked up from his phone and the game he was playing. His scowl deepened but his eyes held concern.

"What is it, sweetie? Are you okay? Do you need something?" The chair squeaked as the older blonde leaned towards her daughter.

Quinn rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Mary, honey, don't hover. Quinn will tell you if she's not fine."

Quinn smiled at her grandmother for intervening.

Mary wasn't so sure. When she walked into the room earlier, her daughter's eyes were puffy, Rachel was beating a hasty retreat and Sam looked like he wanted to both implode and explode.

Quinn wanted to scrub her hands over her face in annoyance. She was reminded yet again of what she couldn't do. She disappeared into her own head, feeling the frustration at being dependent on everyone around her. Even the littles weren't as dependent as she was.

"Quinn?" Mary stroked the blond hair. Her daughter abandoned the pInk beanie that covered her surgical scars as soon as she rolled into the room. She was trying to draw her daughter back from wherever she went in her mind. Perhaps they were pushing the depths of Quinn's stamina too far.

"I'm fine, mom."

How many times would she say those words to calm her family even when she really didn't feel fine?

She nodded her chin towards the over bed table. "I need the mouthstick. Could you bring it over please?"

Mary turned to look and there sat on the table was what looked like an elongated iPad stylus that attached a Y-shaped mouthpiece. She picked it up and headed towards her daughter.

She was a little clumsy with it still but this little stick gave her connection to the outside world. It was her ticket to being a normal teenager.

Unlike Mary neither Dwight or Sam had seen the little gizmo before and watched on as Quinn took the stick In her mouth and moved her head forward until the stylus poked the screen of the iPhone that was mounted to her power chair.

Mary smiled at them, her eyes shining just a little too brightly.

-GLEE-

Rachel sat on her bed replaying her afternoon and wondering, worrying, that she hadn't made things worse like she'd been prone to do.

_"Please don't cry," he begged. His own voice sounded wobbly, making Quinn cry harder._

_Sam looked at Rachel like a deer caught in headlights. Rachel but her lip and then rushed forwards with a hanky out. She always carried a spare hanky in preparation for inevitable slushy attacks._

_"Get out." She still had to work to regulate her breathing and her words came out fairly weak caught up in a sob. Rachel tried to wipe at the tears but Quinn jerked her head to the side, hissing in pain as she did. "Get out! Both of you," she hissed._

_Quinn might as well have slapped her. Rachel recoiled at the venom in the blonde's voice. Suddenly it wasn't her new friend yelling at her, but Karofsky or Santana or any of the multitude of teenagers going to McKinley that thought of her as nothing other than road kill._

Rachel's phone buzzed and she picked it up more than a little puzzled. No one ever text her.

Quinn's name popped up and Rachel dropped the phone in her attempt to answer it.

"Hello?"

There was a muffled sound and then Quinn's voice broke through. "Hi, Rachel. You're on speaker phone."

"Oh, um, hi Quinn and anyone else listening in." There was a little laughter in the background.

Mary's voice broke in over the hum of background noise, "Quinn do you want me to hold the phone for you."

"No. It's late and I'm tired, but just a sec." Rachel was a little confused as to whom Quinn was directing her conversation to. "Rachel?"

"Yes, Quinn."

"I need to apologize for earlier."

"No, you don't. None needed. I butted in when I shouldn't have and it won't happen again..."

"Wow, um, slow down and breath, Rach."

Quinn chuckled and Rachel found herself smiling into her empty bedroom.

"So just because my brother is a dick,"

"Quinn!" Three adult voices reprimanded at the same time.

"Okay, just because Sam is a jerk doesn't mean I am. I'm sorry you got caught in it and before you apologize again I was wondering if you'd like to hang out with me on my day pass."

It took several deep breaths, but Quinn managed to get it all out before Rachel could interrupt.

Mary was looking at Sam, Sam was looking at the floor and Dwight was alternating between looking at his wife and two oldest children. There would be some explaining to do before the night was over.

"Rachel?" Quinn looked at the iPhone screen. It was still connected and on speaker phone. "Rachel?"

"Ohmygodyess, Yes! Of course. There's this no revival of Funny Girl The Movie that just released and YOU have to see it. I've seen it three times already and oh..."

"Goodnight Rachel."

-GLEE-

"We're going to take off now. These two are done for and your brother," Dwight looked at Sam, "is grounded and has a curfew." The situation had been explained about the day pass and Sam was now in a little more hot water with his parents than before.

"Dad I'm with you," Sam moaned. "That can't be used against me if I miss it."

Dwight just stared blankly at Sam.

"Ugh! Never-mind." He stormed out the door, then paused and came back in. "Night sis." He pecked her gently on the forehead and then stormed out again.

"Night, sweetie." Dwight took a little more care as he bid his daughter a good night.

"Dad?" Quinn called out just as Dwight started through the doorway into the empty hospital hallways. He stopped and turned back. His eyes trailed up the massive power chair that was his daughter's only means of independent movement, past the headrest that cradled such precious cargo to the silky blonde hair that was so prominent in all his children. His face crumbled for the briefest of moments and yet when Quinn turned her chair to face him, there was no trace of the inner turmoil that ran through him.

"Yes, pumpkin." He deposited the sleeping Stacey into Mary's arms and met his daughter halfway. He ducked down not wanting to tower over her.

Quinn smile at him.

"Um," she bit her lip. "Is he going to be okay?"

Quinn's eyes darted out into the hallway and her brother. He had Stevie up in his arms, but the scowl from earlier was back and there was something else deep in his eyes that made Quinn want to wrap her arms around him and tell him that everything would be okay. They would be okay. She didn't know if even she believed it anymore. She felt so broken.

"Your brother will be fine. Please don't worry about him. Just focus on getting better and leave your brother to mom and I."

"I'm not getting better. Am I daddy?"

The question broke Dwight's heart. The movement and feeling seemed to have stalled just south of Quinn's shoulders.

"Of course you are. You've come so far."

"I can't keep him from doing something Stupid when I'm like this." Her head bobbed down to indicate her whole body. She knew her brother and knew what he was capable of. She'd been bailing him out her whole life and while everyone kept it a secret from her that he was in the hot seat already, the cat was now out of the bag.

-GLEE-

"Kemosabe!"

Sam groaned and stomped towards the tall lunatic known as Coach Sue Sylvester. He'd had all night to sit and stew on it and he was not joining the Cheerios.

"Your Cheerios uniform is impeccable."

Sam looked down at his jeans and black leather jacket, "I'm not in a uniform."

"I hadn't noticed. I mean really, I hadn't noticed because I was so distracted by that bleached blonde hair of yours." Sue frowned at him. "I think you must have me confused with someone else though, because I'm pretty sure you are a cheerleader and I invited you to join, which is less of an invite and more of a death sentence if you refuse." She gave him an odd grin that made a chill run down his spine.

"I'm pretty sure teachers aren't actually allowed to murder their students." Sam was fairly sure she was just messing with him.

"Tell that to ol' Bony Tony over there," the tall blonde pointed to a skeleton hung on a stand over in the corner. There was a pair of sunglasses on the bones of the face and a curly red wig on top of the skull. It looked both macabre and bizarre. "That's what happened to the last student who turned down a place on my Cheerios squad. Damn shame, he was pretty athletic too."

Sam eyed her. It was true that she couldn't actually make him join, or murder him, but somehow he missed it.

"I can't be a catcher okay," his voice trembled as he said it. "Please don't ask me to do that."

She stared at him and for once didn't have a sarcastic comment. "Go get changed into your uniform and look like you belong to this school rather than some weird loser stage school for Bieber wannabes."

Sam glanced down at the unfamiliar red and white. His old school had been blue and yellow and somehow it felt wrong to be wearing anything else. Still at least he didn't need to think about the colors anymore; he could only think about the flash of blue that went past as his sister had fallen. He swallowed the bile that rose to his throat each time he remembered.

"Hey Trouty Mouth, get your ass in gear. You're late. For that you get extra laps after practice until you puke."

Santana seemed even more fierce than she did when she was bitch, usually at Rachel it seemed, in Glee practice. Not for the first time, he wondered why the cheerleaders seemed such bullies. It hadn't been like that at his old school. Then again, it turned out that they were cowards instead; the prolonged absence from visiting with Quinn had shown them for what they really were.

She looked at him and something flashed through her brain that seemed oddly familiar about him. Snix was at the forefront of her persona right at that moment though so logic wasn't really in control and she shook off the recognition of something familiar and started the Cheerios through their paces.

It was halfway through practice and Snix was bossing the guys into position for a lift when everything suddenly became clear. Santana had been relieved for the new guy because they were always one guy short and that usually meant Brittany had to fill in, meaning she got the least glamorous role. Santana wanted Brit front and center with her, but none of the other girls were strong enough. Sam's appearance had surprised her, but Coach Sue had confirmed he was good.

It was when she asked him to help lift her that she saw his face go white as a sheet and his head shake. She had seen it somewhere before and for a moment it had escaped her.

"Holy shit!"

The Latina suddenly remembered where she had seen that look before.

"Sam Fabray-Evans, why didn't I think of that before?"

Everyone else stopped and it went deathly silent as Sam, still ashen, saw the look of recognition on the captain's face. His head fell forwards and he found himself unable to make eye contact with her anymore. Surely they wouldn't want him around once everyone knew.

"Shit!"

Brittany was puzzled. "Santana? What's up?"

Their captain didn't respond to the tall blonde, instead she kept her eyes on Sam's bowed head.

"You're Quinn Fabray-Evans' brother."

There was an audible gasp from the rest. They'd been there at sectionals when the accident had happened. The other school's loss had been their gain. Arguably the risky moves teams were making these days was in part down to Coach Sylvester's repeated success and constantly pushing the envelope. It had been on the news a couple of days later as well and though they had been horrified at the fall, the consequences had shaken every cheerleader in Ohio and beyond.

"I'll just go," he mumbled. "I told Coach I didn't want to do this anyway."

He turned but then found a small hand grip his uninjured forearm and pull him around.

"Wait." Santana's voice changed and Snix was gone. "We all saw it. We talked about it. We're all more careful because of that now, but ...it wasn't your fault. That girl caught your arm."

"Yeah but she's not the one paying the price is she?"

"Sam," it was the first time the Cheerios captain had ever called him by his name rather than the unfortunate nickname he had earned. "Your sister, Quinn, is she ... you know...still." Santana couldn't actually bring herself to say the words. "Is she any better?"

Sam looked at her then. He shrugged. "She's breathing on her own now, she's still in the hospital. It's why we moved here, for her to go to rehab." He knew what Santana was trying to ask and couldn't. "She's quadriplegic; paralyzed from her shoulders down."

There was collective disappointment at his words.

Santana's heart was hammering in her chest. They all knew the risks but you just never imagined that it would happen to anyone you knew or even sort of knew.

"Look, you can tell Coach you just don't trust me okay. She'll know why and I don't have to pretend I want to be here then."

He started to walk away.

"Sam!" Santana called after him but he didn't turn around. "Get back to work you lazy idiots!" She yelled at the rest of them as the anger rose inside her at the situation. "Brit take charge and no slacking or I'm a gonna go all Lima Heights!"

She ran after the blonde boy and caught him just before he disappeared into the locker room.

"Sam wait, please."

He stopped but didn't turn around or reply.

"It's not your fault, but I get now why you seem pissed all the time and I heard the comments that jerkwad Karofsky made and they make sense to me now. He's going to get kneed in the balls if he says anything like that around me. Coach Sue must have a reason why she wants you on the squad though so why don't you come back and try again. We trust you. If anyone is going to be ultra careful now it's you."

He shook his head. "Thanks, but you have too much faith in me. Besides.." he waved the cast on his arm at her, "until I get rid of this I'm only semi-useful."

"Come back tomorrow, okay?"

"I'll think about it," he hung his head and disappeared into the locker room.

TBC


End file.
